


i love you (even though i don't like you right now)

by ackermanx



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: M/M, Other Characters Are Mentioned, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 14:24:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12608608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ackermanx/pseuds/ackermanx
Summary: Leo and Takumi, and their relationship in fragments





	i love you (even though i don't like you right now)

**Author's Note:**

> so uh this is a soulmate au where the first words your soulmate says to you is written on your skin
> 
> that said y'all can probably tell that I had fun with this he h

Leo is eight when the words first appear on his skin.

 

It's a bit embarrassing, really, because he doesn't know the meaning of one of the harshly printed words on his wrist, and when he goes to ask his brother, Xander looks utterly lost.

 

"No, Leo," he says carefully. "You can't...you shouldn't say that word out loud to anyone. It's not nice."

 

Leo just blinks. "So I shouldn't say fuck?"

 

Xander can't decide if he wants to die or strangle Leo's soulmate, whoever it was.

 

* * *

 

 

Takumi is nine ("almost ten!" he insists) when lines of script wind their way around his forearm.

 

He's mad at first, because  _no way, the writing is in Nohrian, there's no way he's ever falling for someone on the enemy side if he can help it._ Hinoka is almost ready to join Takumi in his furious indignation before Ryouma arrives on the scene, calmly reminding both of his hotheaded siblings that bilingual people existed, and there could very well be a nice person on the Hoshidan court that was fluent in both Hoshidan and Nohrian.

 

That shuts them up, and Takumi eventually starts wearing shorter sleeves whenever he can in hopes that the right person will notice the script and approach him.

 

* * *

 

 

They're fifteen and sixteen when the war is...well, not quite over but Hoshido and Nohr have to work together in order to truly end it. Ryouma agrees to take his family and travel to Castle Krakenburg, because their library is larger and it's easier to fight defense when you're practically surrounded by mountains.

 

Each pair of siblings were introduced to each other slowly and one at a time. Elise and Sakura hit it off immediately; Hinoka and Camilla take a few weeks to set aside their differences; and somewhere in between diplomatic duties and putting on their best faces for the public, Xander and Ryouma had become close friends.

 

Leo and Takumi absolutely refused to even speak to each other.

 

More accurately, Takumi refuses to talk to Leo. Gods above, Leo really does try to be civil to the other boy, but the moment that Leo opens his mouth Takumi turns away and mumbles "Nohrian scum" _just_ loud enough for Leo to overhear.

 

("You're acting like five-year-olds," Xander notes with amusement, to which Leo grits his teeth and forces out "I'm _trying_.")

 

It must be the twentieth time that Leo has tried to approach the surlier boy (not that he was counting) when he gets absolutely fed up. The next time Takumi tries to run away, Leo grabs his shoulders and forces him to meet his eyes.

 

"Will you stop running away and let me talk to you? At the very least, can we do this for our families? There's no way we can function on the battlefield if we can't even talk to each other."

 

Leo watches Takumi's eyes widen in fear, furrows his brows when Takumi swats Leo's hand away, and only grows angrier when Takumi spits " _fuck_  you" and practically stomps out of the room.

 

"Well, excuse me for trying to be nice!" Leo can't help yelling after Takumi's retreating form. He raises the spurned hand to brush a few stray hairs out of his face, and -

 

"Oh, no," he whispers, face paling as he stares at the words on his wrist.

 

* * *

 

 

Takumi bursts into Ryouma's room without knocking, causing the older boy's pen to nearly skid off of the paper.

 

Ryouma inhales once, regains his composure, and fixes a steady look straight into Takumi's eyes "And _what_ have I told you about knocking?"

 

"That I need to do it more often?" Takumi grimaces by way of an apology and thrusts his arm towards Ryouma. "You can read Nohrian, can't you?"

 

"Relatively well, I suppose. Did you need something?"

 

Takumi pokes his own forearm. "Could you - please - read this for me?"

 

"Is that...oh. You already know what I think about that."

 

"This is an emergency, I promise, _please_."

 

"Okay, well..."

 

Ryouma pulls Takumi's arm closer to him, squinting at the curved words. Barely five words leave his mouth before Takumi jerks his arm back reflexively and curses.

 

Sitting back down in his chair, Ryouma simply raises an eyebrow. "Mind telling me what that was about?"

 

Takumi twirls his fingers in the air, a somewhat constipated look on his face. "You know Prince Leo of Nohr, right? I think...it's him."

 

* * *

 

 

"What."

 

"It is, I swear!"

 

Leo paces the room, an agitated look on his face. "I didn't - I couldn't believe it at first, but it all makes sense somehow. No Nohrian - other than Corrin - would ever be so blatantly rude to my face, Princess Hinoka and I have already talked, which rules her out, and the only other possible Hoshidan in my acquaintance circle is Prince Takumi, and - ugh!"

 

He turns to practically glare a hole into a nearby table, and Xander winces.

 

"Alright, I know you're upset, but maybe this isn't as bad as you think it is. You haven't talked to each other much, so -"

 

"That's the thing, though! We haven't talked because _he_ refuses to talk to me, and after today, I can only imagine that any desire to associate with me has vanished completely. Unless you have some way of forcing us together, I highly doubt that we'll be exchanging any words anytime soon."

 

Xander opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again when Leo shoots him a curious look.

 

"Actually," Xander ends up saying, a worrying twinkle in his eyes. "I think I may have an idea."

 

* * *

 

 

(Dear Prince Takumi,

 

Please meet me in the library for a friendly game of chess. Certain events will not be discussed unless you want them to be.

 

Leo)

 

* * *

 

 

"So what is this chess thing you speak of?"

 

Takumi strides up to where Leo is sitting and slams his letter on top of a pile of books. He puts on his best glare, watching as the blond boy looks up in surprise and closes his book.

 

"You really did come! Maybe Xander was right, after all..."

 

"About what?" Takumi scowls. "Listen, Sakura told me that it was something like shogi, so I just came here to get some answers. That's all."

 

"Shogi? Is that the Hoshidan version of chess? The name sounds vaguely familiar...I must have chanced upon it in my cultural readings."

 

Leo lowers his eyes from the ceiling to look at Takumi, only to be met with a disbelieving gaze.

 

"Did you really invite me here without even knowing what I like? Are you serious...gods, you have so much to learn. And that starts with shogi, like, right now."

 

* * *

 

 

Takumi walks through the hallway quickly, a book tucked securely underneath his arm, praying to every god that he can think of that no one will notice him and ask what he's doing -

 

"Takumi? Is that you?"

 

He curses under his breath and forces a pleasant look onto his face. "Hana. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

 

"Well _duh_ , it would be weird if you were."

 

Hana frowns, one hand on the hilt of her sword at her hip. "I was just looking for Lady Sakura; I need to give her the staff she left behind in the weapons room the other day. Where'd you get the book from? This is new/"

 

"Oh, come on. You've seen me read before, haven't you?"

 

Takumi shifts a little, already feeling himself starting to sweat underneath Hana's intensifying gaze. "I'm just...returning it. To an acquaintance."

 

"You're returning a book on..." Hana cranes her neck to get a better look at the poorly-concealed spine. "Chess? To an acquaintance? This is about Leo, isn't it. You can't even lie."

 

"I wasn't _going_  to," Takumi fumes, face turning a brilliant shade of red. "Besides, how do you even kn - oh, forget it, half the castle probably knows by now."

 

"Word travels fast when maids are involved," Hana intones, then cracks up and ruffles Takumi's hair _hard_. "Anyways, as Hinata would probably say if he was here, go get 'em!"

 

A light cough breaks through the rowdiness, and both teenagers freeze and turn to meet the slightly baffled look of Leo, who looked like he had been given a particularly hard problem to solve.

 

"Um," he starts intelligently. "Takumi. There you are. I was looking for you."

 

Suddenly hyperaware of Hana's hand, which was still stuck in his hair, Takumi coughs and attempts to regain his composure. "You were? Did you need something?"  


"Not particularly - actually, yes. The book? That you borrowed from me the day before?"

 

Hana mouths _the day before?_ , an almost devilish grin appearing on her face.

 

Takumi thinks he deserves an award for the way he proceeds to completely ignore everything other than Leo in that moment.

 

"The book. The...book?"

 

Leo smiles weakly and nods towards the chess book that - oh, Takumi had forgotten about that, too.

 

"Right, well - "

 

Fumbling a little, Takumi holds out the almost-like-new copy and steadily does  _not_ think about both Hana's (rather unsubtle) snickers and the way his own stomach does an uncomfortable little flip when Leo smiles that tired little smile at him.

 

"If you're too busy right now, I can, um." Leo gestures at Hana, who immediately removes her arm from Takumi's head. "I'll talk to you later. See you around?"

 

 _Wait, no,_ Takumi's brain immediately responds, but his body takes longer to catch up; by the time he opens his mouth, Leo is long gone.

 

* * *

 

 

"Are you and Hana perhaps...together?"

 

Takumi grips the edge of the table with one hand and uses the other to cover his mouth, preventing stray water droplets from landing on Leo's confused face.

 

"Sorry? Where did you get that ridiculous idea?"

 

"It's not  _completely_ ridiculous," Leo mumbles, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "I just thought - well, you two are together fairly often and you get along well, and you just - I don't know, act like it?"

 

All that Takumi can do is blink is disbelief. "You...you really haven't been exposed to romance often, have you?"

 

"Er, no? I've flipped through some of Camilla's books before, though I don't think that those are representative of most romantic relationships, what with their - "

 

"Okay. Please. Stop right there, I really don't want to know more." Takumi raises his hand, as if he could physically stop Leo's train of thought. "But no, to answer your question, Hana and Hinata are training me to use a sword in case I ever need to wield one, and I really think Hana's in love with my little sister. Why do you care so much?"

 

At that, Leo's face acquires a nice dusting of pink and mumbles something that Takumi can't quite catch.

 

Takumi just looks at him over the rim of his cup, and Leo flushes a little more.

 

"Fine! What I was _saying,_ " he restates (a little too loudly, this time), "is that I might be willing to give the soulmates thing another try. If you're willing."

 

There aren't many things that could make Takumi speechless, but right now, this was oneo f them.

 

"R-Really?" he manages to choke out. "I mean, you seemed pretty opposed to the whole idea at first."

 

"Because  _you_ refused to talk to me at first, if you recall," Leo points out, and all Takumi can do is shrug halfheartedly. "Additionally, I may have discovered that you aren't...as insufferable as I thought that you were."

 

"Oh, gee, thanks."

 

Takumi rolls his eyes, grinning when Leo throws a chess piece at him in response. "But in all seriousness...I think I wouldn't mind, either."

 

A beat of silence passes, in which both boys don't dare to look at each other for fear of breaking out into intense blushes.

 

Leo finally breaks the tension, coughing into his hand. "I suppose we should tell our families about this, shouldn't we?"

 

"Oh! Oh - yeah, wouldn't want Lady Camilla or Hinoka jumping to conclusions. That could get nasty."

 

Exhaling, Leo nods in agreement, and - was that a hint of relief on his face? Takumi would have to tease him about that later.

 

"Well, now that that's settled."

 

Takumi gestures at the table between them, chess pieces still neatly arranged on top. "Should we continue? I'm looking forward to seeing the look on your face when I beat you."

 

That's all it takes for the awkwardness to melt out of the air. Leo grins, leans back over the table, and moves one of his pieces while whispering "too bad, that's a checkmate" into Takumi's ear.

 

(He can't tell if it's because of the sting of another loss or because of Leo's close proximity, but Takumi really,  _really_ wants to die.)

 

* * *

 

 

"Takumi, dear - "

 

"No." Takumi doesn't even look up from his book. "Absolutely not."

 

"Oh, come  _on_."

 

And there he is - there Leo is again, with his damn persuasive voice and his infectious good mood and that smirk on his face because he knows that Takumi won't be able to resist.

 

" _Fine,_ " Takumi huffs. "But this better not be about getting me to cook, because you  _know_ what happened last time - "

 

"No! Not that. Never again," Leo says hastily. "But I was just thinking - don't roll your eyes like that - remember when we first met? When you wouldn't even look at me, let alone talk?"

 

" _Please_ , I got so many lectures from Sakura and Ryouma about not being close-minded after we came out to them. I promise, I'll never judge anyone so quickly again and try to make new friends, let me  _live_."

 

Leo walks over to the couch where Takumi is sitting and promptly makes himself comfortable next to his husband, leaning his head onto Takumi's shoulder. "Funny, isn't it? How everything turned out?"

 

Smiling slightly, Takumi opens his mouth and is about to reply with  _something_ , but Kiragi waddles up to him and stretches out his arms and Takumi immediately loses his train of thought as he reaches down to oblige his son.

 

"But good," he absentmindedly corrects, watching Leo stretch out a finger and little Kiragi clasping it earnestly. "Funny, but good."

 

(And when Leo tilts his head up to press a kiss onto Takumi's cheek, Takumi looks down at the scene in front of him and thinks he wouldn't trade this for the world.)

**Author's Note:**

> yell at me on twitter @axlotlols


End file.
